Three Reasons for Unity
The church exists to display God’s wise and glorious plan to unite all things in Christ (Eph. 1:10; 3:10). That is God’s plan for a unified and peaceful cosmos. Through Christ’s death and resurrection God has put an end to all that separates him from his people, and his people from one another. So then the church is the embodied expression in the present of the future age of peace. Since this is the purpose for the church’s existence Paul strongly encourages the church in Ephesus to live in such a way that promotes and protects peace and unity. In Ephesians 4:1-6 Paul offers three reasons the local church should live in a way that protects the unity they enjoy in the Spirit.
First, the diverse members of the church in Ephesus have a shared transformation experience. Earlier in the letter Paul used the word “walk” to describe their former way of life. He writes in 2:1-2, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…” But God, who is rich in mercy and love, saved them and brought them into a new way of life. Now they are united to Christ (1:23) and to one another (2:15). They are a new humanity (2:15), a new citizenry and family (2:16), and a new dwelling place for God by the Spirit! This diverse group of believers - Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female - have in common this transformative experience of God’s grace.
Second, the church in Ephesus believes the same teaching. In verses 4-6, Paul introduces an early Christian creed. “There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call - one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all,” he recalls. Seven times in this early confession the word “one” appears. This repetition drives home the point that the church is one in believing the one faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. Together they believe certain truths about God, the church, conversion, and eternal life. Embedded in this teaching is the final reason, and most fundamental reason, the church should walk in unity.
Finally, the Ephesian church should live in unity because God is Trinity. The one true God is Father, Son, and Spirit; an eternal society of Three, inseparable in will and ways. The three Persons of the one God are inseparable in overflowing love. In love the Father sent his beloved Son to lay down and take up his life. Proceeding from the Father and the Son the Spirit of love brings the redeemed into the warmth of God’s love pouring God’s very love into their hearts. When the church composed of diverse individuals walks in unity it reflects the glory of the one God to whom they belong, and displays life in the world to come.
